"No need!"
Chu Mingzhao recoiled like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, stumbling back a full step. Her back slammed hard against the rock of the artificial hill with a dull thud. She completely ignored the pain, clutching her collar tightly and forcing out a dry laugh.
"Don't trouble yourself, Your Highness. I can manage fine on my own! The wind is too strong, giving me a headache..."
—Don't touch me, don't touch me, don't touch me!
—Pei Yan is still watching. Do you want him to hold a grudge against me? Would that satisfy you?
Pei Lin's hand hung suspended in midair.
He watched Chu Mingzhao's demeanor, as if she were fleeing from a snake or scorpion, and heard the merciless disdain in her heart. The smile at the corners of his mouth finally faded bit by bit.
The Chu Mingzhao of the past—if he had been willing to take the initiative to get close even a little—would probably have been ecstatic enough to lose sleep for three days. Now, however, she was concerned about Pei Yan's feelings and avoided him as if he were a plague.
Pei Lin slowly withdrew his hand, tucking it into his sleeve, and gently rubbed his fingertips.
It seemed the lingering warmth of the cold wind still remained there.
"Since the wind is strong, you should return to the banquet early."
Pei Lin turned slightly to the side, extending the octagonal glass palace lantern in his hand forward, just enough to illuminate the slippery snow-covered ground beneath Chu Mingzhao's feet.
"The road is hard to see at night. I'll escort you."
Chu Mingzhao looked as if she had received a reprieve, nodding quickly like a chick pecking at rice. Lifting her skirt, she scurried into the glow of his lantern, afraid that if she were a moment too late, the living demon behind her would cut her into a thousand pieces with his glare.
The two had barely walked two steps side by side when Pei Lin suddenly halted.
He turned back, lantern in hand, and looked down from a height at the man who had once been as bright as the moon but was now trampled underfoot—the former crown prince.
"Big brother," Pei Lin suddenly spoke, his voice still gentle, even tinged with a sigh-like pity.
"In the past half year, you must have suffered a great deal in that horse stable."
Pei Yan finally lifted his eyes.
In those dark, heavy pupils, there was not a trace of warmth. He did not speak, only looking at Pei Lin with the gaze one might give a dead man.
Pei Lin met his stare and smiled nonchalantly.
"You're a clever man. You ought to know that Father keeping you alive today is merely out of that last shred of paternal affection.
This marriage to the Chu family was once decreed by Father with his golden words. You are now a commoner. Although Grand Chancellor Chu has not annulled the engagement, we both know in our hearts whether this betrothal will be voided rests entirely on Father's whim."
He took a small step forward, his voice still gentle and clear.
"Zhaozhao is young and ignorant. In the past, she was blinded by your status as crown prince. Now she has awakened."
Pei Lin's words dropped low, each one like a soft knife, stabbing precisely into Pei Yan's most painful spots.
"Don't touch her again with those dirty hands of yours, and don't give birth to any inappropriate, delusional thoughts. A loach in the mud should stay contentedly in its mire. If it dares to covet the bright moon in the clouds, it will only end up skinned, tendons pulled, and dead without a burial."
Having said this, Pei Lin did not glance at Pei Yan again. He turned and swept away, his white fox-fur coat cutting a cold, rigid arc through the wind and snow before quickly merging into the distant lantern light.
Behind the artificial hill, complete darkness fell.
Pei Yan stood still, feeling as if all the blood in his body had frozen solid.
Delusional thoughts? Coveting the bright moon?
Pei Yan suddenly let out a low laugh.
The laughter shook from deep within his chest, carrying a thick undercurrent of blood and rage.
What bright moon was Chu Mingzhao? She was a venomous, snake-hearted woman!
Even if Pei Yan were blind, even if he were to die in this icy wasteland, he would never, ever have the slightest interest in a woman like her!
But...
His fingers involuntarily curled. The tips seemed to still retain the delicate, soft warmth of a woman's neck.
That cloying rose scent clung to his nerves like a barbed hook, sinking in deeper and deeper until he couldn't pull it out no matter how he tried.
...
Near the end of the palace banquet, the atmosphere in the great hall had completely relaxed.
The Imperial Household Department had hung thousands of palace lanterns along the bank of Taiye Pond. Fireworks and floral lights lined the shore, their reflections shimmering on the frozen surface as if it were a paradise on earth.
Court officials and their family members drifted in small groups to admire the lanterns by the lake, their murmurs and laughter dispelling some of the bitter winter chill.
Pei Yan stood in a dark corner by the artificial hill, closing his eyes and focusing for a moment.
Once he confirmed that no one else was nearby, he raised his right hand, bent two fingers to his lips, and whistled a brief, low note.
This was the signal to communicate with his shadow guards.
Even though he had been stripped of his title and reduced to a commoner, and his Eastern Palace power had been uprooted, the trump cards Pei Yan had painstakingly built over ten years were far from being only what was visible on the surface.
His mother's family had left him an elite force of death warriors, spread across the sixteen prefectures of the Great Qian Dynasty.
Usually, once the signal was given, within moments, a dark figure would silently kneel before him.
But today, Pei Yan listened for a long time, and nothing happened.
He opened his eyes wide, and the cold fury in them instantly condensed into murderous intent.
Had Pei Lin or Pei Yuan sensed something and set an ambush in the palace, intercepting his people?
Various conspiracy theories raced through Pei Yan's mind. Just as he was about to abort the rendezvous and flee into hiding, a faint sound came from above his head.
A black shadow hung silently upside down from the tree branch overhead before nimbly flipping to the ground, landing on one knee before Pei Yan.
"Your subordinate, Eleven, reports to master."
Pei Yan stared at the man, frowning deeply.
"Eleven, where are your manners? Why were you late?"
"Your subordinate... deserves death!"
Eleven stammered, "The truth is, your subordinate arrived... a full quarter of an hour ago."
Pei Yan's voice dropped coldly, "If you arrived so long ago, why didn't you reveal yourself?"
Eleven swallowed hard, bowing his head even lower, his voice barely a whisper.
"Your subordinate was always trailing behind, secretly ensuring the master's safety. But... I saw..."
He paused, as if the scene had been too stunning for his limited vocabulary to describe.
"Saw what?" Pei Yan's patience was exhausted.
Eleven took a deep breath, as if resigning himself, and said, rapid-fire,
"Your subordinate saw the master pressing Grand Chancellor Chu's eldest daughter against the artificial hill with a ferocious aura... kissing her! I fully realized that the master, while hidden in the Chu residence, was enduring countless humiliations and must have been executing some... special scheme.
I did not dare disturb the master's grand plan, nor intrude on the master's private matters. Therefore, I took the liberty of hiding in a distant tree a while longer, causing the delay."
Shadow guards were trained to stay rock-stable even when Mount Tai collapses before them, unless, of course, they absolutely cannot help it.
Pei Yan shut his eyes tightly.
Now, he wanted not only to kill Chu Mingzhao but also to kill Eleven to silence him.
"Shut up."
Pei Yan took a deep breath and said coldly, "Things aren't as you imagined. I was simply... interrogating her."
"Your subordinate understands!"
Eleven immediately straightened his body, his expression turning solemn, filled with reverence for his master.
"The master sacrifices himself as enticement, attempting to break the Chancellor Chu’s defenses from within. Your subordinate cannot even begin to match my master's endurance!"
Pei Yan: ...
